U of L introduces their research and creative activities plan

By Lethbridge Herald on February 25, 2026.

Herald photo by ALEJANDRA PULIDO-GUZMAN Vice president of research Dena McMartin speaks to media about the research and creative activities plan Tuesday at the University of Lethbridge.

By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman

Lethbridge Herald 

Vice-president of research Dena McMartin presented the Research and Creative Activities Plan to the University of Lethbridge community, recognized the new Canada Research Chairs Alexandra Tetarenko, Amy Mack and Tiffany Hind Bull-Prete and also celebrated undergraduate student and Rhodes Scholar Sydney Whiting on Tuesday.

“Anytime we have a chance to celebrate research is a great day in my world, there is so much amazing world class research taking place in this university,” said McMartin. 

She said they are leading the world in many ways, contributing to really important questions and answering hard questions, and coming up with great ideas that are being well funded. 

“The way that we formulated our plan this time around is to really focus on fundamentals. Foundations, ideas, places, and systems that reflect the different ways that researchers engage in questions,” said McMartin. “How they come up with their ideas, how they bring students into their research and how they partner with outside agencies, and communities to make an impact through those ideas.”

She said every student at the University of Lethbridge has an opportunity for experiential learning and research is a big part of that. 

“Our undergraduate researchers tend to be performing closer to what a masters level student would be doing at a lot of other universities,” said McMartin. 

She said this is because they work side by side with world class researchers and experts in their field and they have full access to labs, studios, and the facilities on campus. 

“The partnerships we have in our community are absolutely essential to our work, so having those ideas that come from community, that are co-created with community are really important,” said McMartin “Because our students get to work on real world problems and feel like they’re making a real difference in the world.” 

Developed through extensive consultations as part of the University’s strategic plan creation, the process included faculty members, students, community, and corporate partners as well as further collaborative efforts of the Research Planning Committee. 

The new plan reflects the diversity of the University of Lethbridge research activities as well as the breadth of the University’s many partner relationships.

“I’m very proud of the work that has gone into making this plan and I believe it reflects who we are and who we aspire to be,” said McMartin. “This will guide our efforts going forward and having been through this process, I know how excited our researchers and our communities are for where our curiosity will take us.”

The full research and creative activities plan can be found on the university’s research web page at  https://www.ulethbridge.ca/research.